NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has criticized the group of American Jewish leaders who are meeting with the authors of the rogue Geneva Accord, which seeks to pressure Israel to retreat almost to the nine-miles-wide pre-1967 borders, expel tens of thousands of Jews from their homes, tear Jerusalem in half, and give away Judaism’s holiest site.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s spokesman, Ra’anan Gissin, has described the Geneva Accord as “tantamount to Israel committing suicide.” (Ha’aretz, Dec. 2, 2003) According to the Geneva plan, Israel would have to retreat virtually all the way to the narrow pre-1967 borders, and give up parts of the Negev region (which is now part of the State of Israel); a sovereign Palestinian Arab state would be established, right next to Israel’s major population centers; half of Jerusalem would be turned into the capitol of the Palestinian Arab state, including Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount; and many of the 230,000 Jews living in Judea-Samaria-Gaza would be expelled from their homes and towns. The Geneva accord also does not specifically rule out the Arab demand for the “return” of millions of Arab “refugees” to Israel.

The ZOA has learned that the Union for Reform Judaism has organized a meeting between officials of several major American Jewish organizations and Geneva Accord authors Yossi Beilin and Yasir Abed Rabbo in Washington, D.C. on December 4, 2003.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “Yasir Arafat has endorsed the Geneva Accord because it increases the pressure on Israel to make even more one-sided concessions to his terrorist regime. By meeting with the Accord’s authors, these Jewish organizational officials are strengthening Arafat’s hand, advancing a plan that endangers Israel, legitimizing a proposal to tear Jerusalem in half, and increasing world pressure on Israel. The Geneva Accord severely undermines Israel’s negotiating position by encouraging the Arabs to believe that more pressure and terrorism will result in more Israeli concessions. It also rewards the Arabs’ continual murders of Jews.”